USPS Mail Handler Union (NPMHU) Requests OPM Extend Open Season

We represent over 50,000 postal employees and annuitants who are participating in the new Postal Service Health Benefits Program (“PSHBP”).

As you know, PSHBP Open Season started Monday, November 11th. From that beginning, participants have experienced numerous technical issues with its online Open Season resources. These issues have impeded the ability of participants to access the online site and to submit their registration for the upcoming year.

The most significant problem has been the inability of Postal employees to utilize Login.gov and, in particular, that Login.gov has failed in many instances to link employees’ postal and OPM identities and accounts. As a result, even ignoring incomplete or inaccurate plan information, employees are unable to enroll in any PSHBP plan electronically. The work-around the Postal Service has devised of calling PSHB Helpline is itself going to add uncertainty and delays to the enrollment process which negatively impacts the PSHBP carriers being able to complete their work before January 1st.

These serious and persistent problems are preventing postal employees and annuitants from enrolling in PSHB plans. Indeed, OPM has announced another round of system updates to Login.gov for this coming weekend. This situation is unacceptable, and we are calling for a brief extension to Open Season to ensure that employee have sufficient time to effectuate their enrollment. OPM has extended Open Season in prior years for far less impactful issues. Where, as here, the problems are literally preventing participant enrollment, extending Open Season for PSHBP participants is both necessary and warranted.

We therefore strongly urge OPM to extend Open Season for PSHBP participants by one week from Monday, December 9th to Monday, December 16th. Paul V. Hogrogian
President
National Postal Mail Handlers

Source: www.npmhu.org

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OPM's Federal Employee Retirement Statistics

Snippet of Article: "... data represents the total Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) Annuitants added to the Annuity Roll Processing System (ARPS) from Fiscal Year 2000 to Fiscal Year 2022. These numbers include all employees whose retirement was processed as of September 30. ..."

Source: www.opm.gov

OPM's Federal Employee Retirement Statistics

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Federal employees lack mission critical skills needed to do their jobs

Snippet of Article: "Skills Gaps Within OPM’s Own Workforce Could Make It Less Able to Help Others. ...But OPM’s efforts to help agencies close their skills gaps could be endangered by skills gaps within the HR agency’s own workforce. Of the 11 objectives within OPM’s current strategic plan dedicated to addressing governmentwide skills gaps, GAO found that the agency’s existing skills gaps imperil nine of them. And thus far, OPM has not established an action plan to deal with that risk..."

Source: www.govexec.com

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OPM website glitch: Allowed users access to other retirees' personal information

Article Title: Retiree info exposed in OPM website glitch: Allowed users access to other retirees' personal information

Snippet of Article: "...glitch in the system allowed retirees logging in to the portal Monday morning to gain access to the personal accounts of other users..."

Source: federalretiree.blogspot.com

Chinese hackers broke into the federal Office of Personnel Management computer system

Article Title: Chinese hacked federal employee files

Snippet of Article: "...Chinese hackers broke into the federal Office of Personnel Management computer system in March, apparently targeting tens of thousands of employees who applied for top-security clearance, The New York Times reported...."

Source: www.usatoday.com

OPM tests letting feds work without a schedule

Article Title: OPM tests letting feds work without a schedule

Snippet of Article: "...In the effort to attract and retain a new generation of federal workers, what can the federal government offer beyond a steady paycheck and good fringe benefits? ..."

Source: www.federalnewsradio.com

Senate confirms John Berry as federal personnel chief

Article Title: Senate confirms John Berry as federal personnel chief
Snippet from Article: "...Both presidents of the two largest federal employee unions -- the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union -- also praised Berry...."
Source: www.govexec.com

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